Willie's View Movie Reviews

  LAST VEGAS stars Robert DeNiro,Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline and Morgan Freeman who play childhood best friends and are reunited years later when one of the characters gets engaged and plans on getting married in Las Vegas. The Four plan a bachelor party in Vegas before the wedding and craziness ensues.   That's the basic plot of this movie. It's the Geriatric version of The Hangover. It's also a much better movie than The Hangover for one reason (of many)-it has a heart, without being sappy. The four actors are basically having fun getting together and making a movie together. It's not any of these four men's best work, but it sure is a fun time watching them have a crazy,yet classy, good time in Vegas. Mary Steenburgen is terrific in a supporting role as one of the guy's love interest. No spoilers here.  LAST VEGAS is rated PG-13 for language,brief nudity and some PG-13 style debauchery. I give LAST VEGAS a B. You find it on Blue Ray and DVD just about

   CONCUSSION is Will Smith's best performance in years. Plain and simple.    CONCUSSION is the true story of pathologist Dr. Bennent Omalu, who dared to take on the NFL and expose the truth about the effects of football players who suffer from concussions on the football field.    The question that has to be asked before I go forward with my thoughts on this film is this-am I biased in a negative way towards football and the NFL in general because of my views toward football? Maybe. For those who know me personally, know that I played pee wee,junior high and a bit of high school football for 11 years straight. To say that I was burned out is an understatement. And living in Texas, probably the biggest football state in the country, didn't help matters. I had football shoved down my throat from every direction. I do like it to a certain extent, but I do not and never will understand why football consumes millions of peoples lives like a drug. Rant over.   Now, back to my th

   JOY is the third collaboration between writer/director David O.Russell and actress Jennifer Lawrence and is my favorite of the three. JOY tells the true story of Joy Mangano, the housewife who created the miracle mop. JOY is about believing in your dreams,believing in yourself and about sticking to those beliefs when everyone else seems to either turn against you or walk away from you and is about the people, her family, who turn their back on her and the ones who stick with her. As far as discussing the story further, I won't. Go see the movie.   If you like inspiring movies that make you feel good about life, then this is a film that I would not miss. I think everyone loves a film that makes you feel good. JOY is gritty,realistic,definitely not sappy and inspirational. Jennifer Lawrence gives another fine performance as the title character. The entire film is put on her shoulders and she gives a performance that the film its inspiring energy. You can also credit David O.Ru

    It's finally here. The sequel I thought I would never see in my lifetime.      STAR WARS:THE FORCE AWAKENS. Was it worth the wait? Does J.J. Abrams do the film justice? Is the new cast as good as the original cast? Is the original cast good in this? YES!!!!! Not only YES!!!! but YES!!!     THE FORCE AWAKENS is a return to what we loved about STAR WARS in the first place. That awe inspiring galaxy far,far,far away that contained cinema magic like no other films in the history of cinema. This movie has that. It made me feel like that 7 year old boy who cared less about movies and had his eyes opened to the wonders of film. It happened all over again. AMAZING!!!   I will not spoil this film for anyone who  has not seen it yet, because this movie is filled with surprises. One of those (No  spoilers.) is the new cast led by stage actress Daisy Ridley, who is beyond wonderful as Rey, a desert scavenger who stumbles upon her biggest find that leads to an inter-galactic space adve

                             CREED is referred to as a "spin off" movie, but I'm going to call it a sequel to the previous 6 Rocky movies, starring Sylvester Stallone. Before I get into my thoughts on CREED, let us define the terms "spin off" and "sequel".  Spin off is defined as the by product or incidental result of a larger product. A sequel is defined as something that takes place after or as a result of an earlier event. CREED, starring Michael B. Jordan (Friday Night Lights TV Series and The Fantastic Four) as Adonis "Donnie" Johnson and Sylvester Stallone reprising his iconic film role as Rocky Balboa and is directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler (Fruitivale Station, which featured Jordan).                             Is CREED any good? To my surprise, that answer is a resounding YES. This movie has so much going for it. First, it's a drama. Second, it's a boxing movie, of course. And third, it's a love story and a story

  I am a BIG James Bond fan and a bigger fan of the Daniel Craig/James Bond era.  I loved Casino Royale. Wasn't crazy for Quantum of Solace, but it was watchable. Skyfall is my favorite of the bunch. Now comes Daniel Craig's fourth outing as 007 in Spectre, and I'll cut right to the chase. Spectre is the biggest disappointment of 2015. Plain and simple.   Like always, I'll spare you of the plot details and get right to the problem of this film. The story.   There is no character development for James Bond whatsoever in this film. NOTHING that happens in this movie amounts to a hill of beans. NOTHING!!! Basically, James Bond goes looking for answers to his life and when all is said and done, we really don't get any answers of than one. SPOILER ALERT...............Still with me? Don't say I didn't warn you. We find out that the villain of this movie (played by Christoph Waltz) is responsible for everything that happened to Bond in the previous three films. .

 I admit that I have never seen Hotel Transylvania, but being the movie nut ball that I am, I knew more than enough about the film to be more than familiar with it. I knew it was an animated Adam Sandler film, costarring all of his friends (i.e. Kevin James, David Spade and Steve Buscemi). I knew it was about classic horror movie monsters led by Sandler's Count Dracula, who ran a hotel for monsters. I knew that it was also about his his teenage daughter (voiced by Selena Gomez) who falls in love with a goofy human( voiced by Andy Samberg). And so, to prove to his daughter that he likes humans, he opens his hotel to humans. That was the first one. See? I did pretty good without seeing it,right?   And since the first one was a box office hit, it's inevitable that we would have a sequel. And we do. Shock. Surprise.   I have another admission. I was bored when I picked this movie selection. I figured at the very least that I could stop it if it was awful. To my surprise, Hote

        THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. is based on the 60's television show which followed secret agents  who worked for a secret international counter espionage and law and enforcement agency   U.N.C.L.E.  Now, almost 50 years later, we get the film version, directed by Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes movies and SNATCH) and stars Henry Cavill (THE MAN OF STEEL) and Armie Hammer (THE SOCIAL NETWORK) as rival secret agents-Cavil for the U.S. and Hammer for Russia. The plot centers around the two men having to work together despite their dislike for one another, to protect the daughter of a Professor who has made a nuclear bomb. Their mission-find the missing professor and find the nuclear bomb before the bad guys and destroy the world. Your basic spy movie plot.     What I liked about THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. is the chemistry between the three stars-Cavill, Hammer and Alicia Vikander as Gaby, the daughter of the Professor.Their chemistry and likable characters rise above the predictable plot

  SOUTHPAW, stars Jake Gyllenhaal as light heavyweight boxing champion Billy Hope. Without giving anything away(the trailer does a good job at that, so don't watch) SOUTHPAW is a predictable boxing drama. The first quarter of the movie is exactly like a Rocky movie. Thankfully, the core of the movie is the second act - part family drama,part redemption tale until we get to the third act, which turns back into a predictable Rocky movie.    Jake Gyllenhaal gives one of his best performances of his career. His performance is so good that it works against the boxing cliches. Forest Whitaker is also very good as a trainer who takes a chance on Billy Hope when no one else will.  To reiterate, the first and third acts of SOUTHPAW almost cripple the film, if not for Gyllenhaal's Oscar worthy performance, Antoine Fuqua's good direction and the solid second act. I am leaving out certain things about the movie because I try not to get into spoiler territory if I can help it.   If

     WAR ROOM is the fifth film from Alex and Stephen Kendrick and is their best film to date.       The Kendrick Brothers once again tackle the subject of marriage, but this movie is more than about a struggling marriage. It's about having a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's about praying to GOD, about seeking GOD and letting him steer you through the ups and downs of life.It's about parenting,from a mother's standpoint and then, from a father's standpoint. It's about making wrong choices and turning to GOD to make the right choices. It's also about mentoring another person.   This is where I talk about the strongest character the Kendrick Brothers have ever created-Miss Clara, played flawlessly by Karen Abercrombie. This woman needs an Oscar. her performance is the heart and soul of WAR ROOM. Take her out and you have a flat, sermon heavy movie. Miss Clara is more than a Jesus loving, prayer seeking, evangelical old lady. Over the coarse of two hou

  Terminator:Genisys is a sequel and a reboot to the previous four Terminator movies, but I really only count the first two film classics.   I can see why the filmmakers of Terminator:Genisys thought it was a good idea, at least on paper to reboot the Terminator franchise after the disappointing third and fourth films. However, the story that is used to reignite this classic Sci-Fi film series works in reverse effect and just might (pun intended) terminate this series for possible sequels.   Let me first tell you the premise of this film. Kyle Reese goes back to 1984 to save Sarah Conner from being killed. Didn't this happen in the first movie? Hang on. When he gets there, he finds things are different then what he was expecting. I'll stop there. I will say this, without spoiling anything. What transpires through the rest of the film, it manages to erase all previous four movies from ever happening, at least for this movie. Fine. Pull a DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (X-MEN) if you mus

  Being the film buff that I am, I have somehow managed to not see the film classic TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. That changed when I recently read the book by Harper Lee. Wonderful book. I highly recommend it. Curious to see how the film version compared to the book, I made my way to the local Library and checked out a copy of the film. What fol lows are my thoughts on this beautiful and haunting film about lost innocence and racism.    TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD stars Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1963. It's directed by Richard Mulligan, who went on to direct the 1991 film THE MAN IN THE MOON, which I also recommend. The screenplay is written by screenwriting legend Horton Foote,  who also picked up an Oscar for adapting the novel into this film classic.    With all the known pedigree out of the way, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is the story of lost innocence in the 1930's deep south. It was a different time compared to now, where child

 After Brad Bird breathed new life into the MISSION:IMPOSSILE movies with GHOST PROTOCOL, I thought it would be IMPOSSIBLE to ever top it. Of course, with the success of GHOST PROTOCOL, we all knew that Cruise and Paramount would be foolish not to attempt a fifth entry. But once again, Cruise rolled the dice and has come up a winner with ROUGE NATION, the fifth MI film.  This time out Cruise enlisted the help of writer/director Christopher McQuarrie to continue the momentum flowing after GHOST PROTOCAL and I am happy to say they have succeeded.   The plot of the movie? Well, McQuarrie has crafted a masterful thriller in ROUGE NATION, having IMF shut down by the CIA and making Ethan Hunt a fugitive. He's also the target of an anti IMF group that wants to use Hunt and kill him afterwards. Hunt's mission? Stay one step ahead of the CIA and find out who the mystery man is that runs the rogue assassin group that's out to put an end to him and the world as we know it.   ROG

    ANT-MAN? Never heard of him? You say that Marvel is scraping the bottom of the barrel in finding super-heroes? I say no. In the comics, ANT-MAN was a founding member of the Avengers and an important part of the Marvel Universe. Now, he makes his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.    ANT-MAN is a tiny movie in comparison to most of the other entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (i.e. The Avengers,Spider-Man, X-Men,etc.). This film is BIG on and character development and character interaction and wonderful performances by Michael Douglas, Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly. Their character development and interaction brought to life by fantastic performances is the most important part of ANT-MAN and its the reason why this film works so well. All the action and special effects, which are fun,take a back seat here. This story is about redemption and and being proven right when everyone else thinks your wrong. We can learn an important lesson from Hank Pym(Douglas) and Scott Lan

   If you've read any of my reviews this year, you might notice that I've talked about the emotional disconnect that some movies are plagued with. I'm referring to lack of character development (example-UNBROKEN and FURY, come to mind.)  PIXAR'S latest animated film, INSIDE OUT, almost gets derailed with the lack of character development/character empathy and a flimsy storyline that plays like a re-tread of the Toy Story Movies. Two characters with different personalities find themselves out of their comfort zone and spend the rest of the movie trying to get back. Been there. Done that about a 1000 times over.   But does INSIDE OUT offer anything to write home about? Yes. Two voice over performances that breath life into this "cute" film. Those two are Phyllis Smith (from The Office) as the emotion Sadness and Richard Kind (Spin City) as a stuff animal type creature named Bing Bong. If it weren't for these two supporting characters, I feel we would have

  22 years ago, Steven Spielberg debuted one of his signature action masterpiece's with JURASSIC PARK.   22 years and two lesser sequels later, movie-goers get the opportunity to return to Isla Nebular and see all those cool dinosaurs once again eating people. During the 20 plus years, INGEN has managed to get Jurassic Park running and operational, capturing the vision of it's founder, John Hammond. But when attendance level start to decrease, the mad scientists go back to the lab to create a bigger and badder dinosaur-Indominus Rex.   Of course, things go horribly wrong and the head of Park Operations,Claire( played by Bryce Dallas Howard) enlists the help of Raptor Whisper Owen(Chris Pratt) to get things under control.  We've seen this done three times already. But what JURASSIC WORLD offers is a BIG star in the lead role-Chris Pratt. This movie really is best described as Chris Pratt and The Dinosaurs. Chris Pratt fully embodies what the previous three movies have be

 MAD MAX:FURY ROAD is a jaw dropping, game changing genre defining action movie in every sense of the word.  If you are a movie buff like myself, then you remember the original Mad Max trilogy from the 80's, starring Mel Gibson, the role that made him a household name.   Well, series creator George Miller returns 30 years later to reignite and re-define Mad Max for a new generation. What he delivers is a film that I think will also re-define the action movie from here on out. This is arguably the best action film to made in the past 15 years. The film takes at a break neck pace and does not let up until the final credits. Just when you think Miller is giving the audience a chance to catch our breath, we find ourselves off in another mouth gaping action sequence. The action is really that crazy awesome.   Then there is the performances by Tom Hardy as Mad Max and Charlize Theron, who in my opinion, steals the movie right out from under Hardy. Theron's Imperator Furiosa is the

 Jake Gyllenhaul plays Louis Bloom, a creepy individual who just wants to be excepted and most of all get a job.   When we first meet Louis Bloom, he's trying to get a job, but his creepiness gets in the way and we see that Mr.Bloom doesn't take being rejected very well. One night, he witnesses an accident and see a group of independent news camera crews descend on the carnage and take video of said carnage and then sell it to local TV news stations.  Bloom is a quick learner and before you know it he's in front of a local TV news producer, played by Rene Russo (Lethal Weapon 3 and 4), selling his footage of another accident from another another night.   Writer/Director Dan Gilroy gets very close to turning this thriller about the media getting screwed by a psychopath, into a black comedy. Don't know what a black comedy is? Google it. But thankfully, Gilroy keeps the action in the thriller genre.  I can't stand the news media and seeing how they are portrayed

MEN IN BLACK II begins a new ongoing series of movie reviews that I am calling Retro Movie Reviews.  Originally released in the summer of 2002, MEN IN BLACK II reunties  Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as Agents K and J, know as the Men In Black. It was the chemistry between Jones and Smith that made the original film a box office blockbuster and this second entry went on to make over $190 million at the domestic (U.S.) box office and spawned a third and better sequel. But I'm here to talk about MIB 2.    Trouble starts all over again when Serleena (played well by Laura Flynn Boyle), an alien (of course) from another planet (of course) shows up looking for the "light of Zartha". No one seems to know where it's location is, except for one person and he can't remember where it is or who he is for that matter. I'm talking about Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K, whom, if you remember, got neuralized (that mean his memory erased) in the first movie. It's up to A

In the film KINGSMAN:THE SECRET SERVICE, Harry (Colin Firth) says that "manners maketh a man". If that's the case, then he sure doesn't practice what he preaches. For one, he, along with everyone else in the film, have potty mouths. I lost count on how many F bombs went off during the course of this 2 hour plus pornographic action fest.   I should have expected this type of film from Matthew Vaughn, the director of another pornographic violence fest-KICKASS. The film is basically about a young man who attempts to make it as a spy in a secret agency known as the Kingsman. Based on their behavior, I wouldn't call them gentlemen at all. Not only is the foul language so over the top, but the violence is as well. Case in point-the church scene about an hour into the movie. I should have stopped right there, but regretfully, I didn't.    James Bond this is not. Not even close. There are some out there that loved this movie. All movies are not for everyone. This

Avengers:Age of Ultron is a film that runs the risk of having too much going on visually and story wise. And to my amazement, writer-director Joss Whedon pulls it off in brilliant fashion.  Age of Ultron is a comic book lover's dream come true. It has everything you could ask for in a super-hero film. Action,comedy,drama,romance and a classic villain played wonderfully by James Spader(The Black List). The film has so much going on plot wise that I dare you to call this film boring. And at the heart of it all, Age of Ultron continues to nail what was so good about the first film-the characters and their inter-action with each other. The performances by everyone are spot on with Downey and Evans leading the pack. In addition to all the characters that we loved in the first film, we get new additions, featuring, as I mentioned, Spader as the deliciously evil Ultron, and Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor Johnson as twin siblings with super powers)of course).  Also, the film contai

   Interstellar is Christopher Nolan's most grounded work yet as a film-maker and it's also the most humanistic of all of his films. It's also a complicated bind bender that we've come to expect from Nolan.   Plain and simple, Interstellar is the story of a father and daughter set in the distant future. Matthew McConaughey and Mackenzie Foy play the father and daughter combo that is the heart and soul of the movie. It's their incredible performances that make the movie. Many have said that Interstellar is a masterpiece in visual film making. I say that the film works best when it focus is on the father and daughter. The space exploration portion of the film has been done better in other films. But let's call Interstellar what it truly is -a mind bending drama about a Father and his daughter. I also can't forget the awesome score by film composer Hans Zimmer. I consider his score to be one of his best in years.  All that being said, Interstellar is also a

    DO YOU BELIEVE? is from the studio, Pure Flix, who brought you last year's hit, GOD'S NOT DEAD.    DO YOU BELIEVE? tells the story or stories of 12 people in Chicago, whose lives are intertwined in one way or another. What's the common denominator? Their belief or unbelief in God. That's the basic set up of the film. I will not go any further for fear of heading into spoiler territory,   When I saw the trailer, I thought that if I didn't believe in Jesus Christ, that this film would seem extremely to me. I understand that non-believers will think this about this movie. "Christian" movies do have that stigmata about them. That they are cheesy and over the top with sentimentality. I get that.   But here's the thing that will keep you from liking or not liking this movie-what you believe.  I believe that this movie is of sound Biblical doc-turn. It's what I believe. It's what I profess on a daily basis. My prayer is that non-believers wi

 Netflix is littered with bad Nicolas Cage movies. Just take a look. Cage has been the joke of Hollywood for years for making many bad movie choices.  JOE is NOT one of those movies. It's Cage's best in years. JOE is the story of an ex-con trying to live as normal a life as he can, but his past actions keep coming back to haunt him. When he hires an abused teenager looking to make a living for his family and befriends him, Joe is forced more than ever to keep a reign on his life.  JOE, directed by David Gordon Green, is about two men trying to leave their pasts behind and build a life of his own. I must warn you that this is a hard core rated R film, with strong language, violence and some nudity.   Nicolas Cage is a good actor who's gotten a bad rap, especially making crappy choices. But JOE is a step in the right direction in redeeming himself of his "bad movie" reputation.   I give JOE a B+.

UNBROKEN is the true story of Louis Zamperini's time as a prisoner of war in Japan in W.W. II. The film is based on the best selling book by Laura Hillenbrand and is directed by Angelina Jolie, with Jack O'Connell as Louis Zamperini. I have not read the book and after viewing the film, I have a feeling that some of the story was left out. What the film does cover is his 47 days at sea in a raft with two fellow crewman after their plane is shot down and crashes in the middle of the ocean. From there, the rest of the film covers his time in a Japanese POW camp.   My problem with the film is that it lacks the emotional punch this sort of film needs. Instead of being an inspiring story, the film version is a listless paint by numbers Oscar wanna be. The key scene in the movie, for example, where (SPOILER WARNING!!!) a frail Louis is forced to hold a board over his head for a long period of time. If he drops it, he will die. This scene should have had the audience cheering. I

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in the new trailer for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-ROUGE NATION, due out in theaters on July 31. From what I've seen from the trailer, we should expect more action and thrills, just like the previous four high octane action thrillers. Most of the MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE:GHOST PROTOCOL cast is back for the fifth outing, this time being directed by JACK REACHER director Christopher McQuarrie. I can only hope he will bring the same invigorating energy that Brad Bird did with GHOST PROTOCOL. We will find out on July 31.

I Consider The Kendrick Brothers to be the best Christian Film Makers in the business. Their list of films include FLYWHEEL,FACING GIANTS,FIREPROOF and COURAGEOUS. Their fifth film, WAR ROOM, will be released August 28th. I for one cannot wait. From my view of the trailer that dropped yesterday, it looks to be their most evangelical film to date. I hope and pray that secular audiences will find out what all the fuss is about in regards to God gifted film making ability of the Kendrick Brothers. I get excited every time one of their films come out. Check out the trailer below.

  Can a movie have a second life on another platform outside of the box office? I believe it can.    AND SO IT GOES, starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton is such a movie. It's out on home video and is streaming on Netflix.  It was originally released in theaters last July and met a horrible box office death among all the summer blockbusters that were out at the time. A nice little romantic movie such as this is all wrong for summer, in my opinion.   I hate to use the word cute, but that's exactly what this film is. Nothing more. Nothing less. It's directed by film veteran Rob Riener (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and A FEW GOOD MEN) and wriiten by Mark Andrus (AS GOOD AS IT GETS) and they bring their film pedigree to this light and fluffy romantic comedy. There's nothing wrong with light and fluffy.   Michael Douglas is the movie. He plays a mean widower who is at the end of his real estate career and his forced by his estranged son to take care of his 10 year old

PIXELS Is the latest Adam Sandler comedy coming out this summer. July 24 to be exact. Along with Sandler are Kevin James, a usual co-conspirator of Sandlers, Peter Dinklage (Elf, Game of Thrones), Josh Gad (ew!!) and Michelle Monaghan (MI:3). It's basically Sandler and gang vs. 80's video game characters brought to life by aliens. It looks like Indepence Day meets Ghostbusters via the typical juvenile Sandler humor. But what raises my eye brow with interest is who is directing-Chris Columus, the director of Home Alone 1&2, Harry Potter 1&2 and one of my favorite comedies -Mrs. Doubtfire. Columbus hasn't had a hit since It Percy Jackson and The Lighting Thief and that was a very minor hit. I'm wondering if he is Sandler's latest director for hire? From what I've seen of trailer, that might be the case.   I'm slightly interested. 

   Political manuvering takes Center Stage in the latest Hunger Games movie.  Let me start by saying that I have not read any of The Hunger Games novels, although I do plan to do so.     Let me also say that I loved the two previous movies- Hunger Games and Cathing Fire.     Now on to Mocking Jay Part 1, which is the third book in the Hunger Games Trilogy and is being split into two movies. I call this strategy "milking the cow for she's worth". It worked for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows when that novel turned film was split into two movies.    The first part works splendidly as a political thriller. The story involves the Rebels, led by President Coin (Julieanne Moore)trying to get control of Katnis (jennifer lawrence in another fine performance) and Peta (Josh Hutcherson) away from the evil Capitol, led by President Snow ( played by one of the greatest over-actors of all time-Donald Sutherland). I'll stop with the plot details for those who ha

   Denzel Washington is back in his best movie since THE BOOK OF ELI with THE EQUALIZER, based on the 80's TV series about a mysterious man who goes around helping people who are victimized by criminals and don't have a fighting chance on their own.   That is all I will say about the plot and that's all you really need to know going into the film. But please recognize that the film is rated R for strong language and violence.  Here's the thing that works about THE EQUALIZER besides the performance of Washington and the directing by Antoine Fuqua (who directed Washington to an Academy Award in TRAINING DAY)-you like Robert McCall (Washington) because he's a good person and he goes out of his way to help people-way out of his way. That's something I look for in a movie. A likable or relate-able character. It also helps that McCall can kick some serious butt. When he goes after the scumbags in this movie, you're behind him all the way.   It also help that t

ROBOCOP is the remake of the 1987 sci-fi classic. This time, instead of taking the campy sci-fi approach that the original did, this remake or reboot gives Robocop a superhero makeover, complete with the PG-13 rating instead of the graphic R rating of the original.  The new version is faithful to its predecessor in a story sense and does take a standard straight forward approach in the visual sense, instead of the original director's (Paul Veerhoven) pornographic and brutal over the top action style. That's not to say that the new model is kid friendly. It's not. Sorry parents. This one features the video game violence that kids are unfortunately used to.   The question that I have to answer is ROBOCOP(2014) better than ROBOCOP(1987)? The answer is no, however, the new model does offer enough entertainment value to recommend. (1) The supporting cast, featuring Michael Keaton as the main villain, Smauel L. Jackson as a TV news host and Gary Oldman as the creator of Roboc

    Whiplash, starring Miles Teller (Divergent, The Spectacular Now) and J.K. Simmons(Juno and Spider-Man) is about a promising young drummer who is mentored by the music teacher from hell.      Whiplash puts you on the edge of your seat, rooting for Andrew Neimann (Teller) to achieve his dream of becoming the best drummer he can be. The film is fueled by the performances of Teller and Simmons. Without them, the film would be average. The performances ARE  the film.     That's not to say that the writing and directing by Damien Chazelle is sub-par. It's not by any stretch of the imagination. Chazelle film, like I said earlier, puts you on the edge of your seat until the very last drumbeat.    It's a shame that this brilliant drama didn't find a wide audience while in theaters. It's a travesty when the latest Vince Vaughn comedy (Unfinished Business) can open in 2700 plus theaters and Whiplash only open on 560 plus screens in comparison. Something is wrong when a

  FURY,written and directed by David Ayer and starring Brad Pitt is a dark,gritty and enjoyable W.W. II drama about a five man Sherman Tank crew inside Nazi Germany.  David Ayer is no stranger in writing/directing dark,gritty action dramas with unlikable characters (TRAINING DAY with Denzel Washington). With FURY, Ayer gives us Brad Pitt as an unsympathetic Army Sergeant who has to break in a rookie soldier (played by PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTINING THIEF's Logan Lerman), who's main skill is typing 60 words per minute-not killing Nazis. The five man crew is rounded out by Shia LeBeouf as a Christian,who quotes The Bible and prays;Michael Pena (seen in Ayer's END OF THE WATCH) and Jon Bernthal, best known as Shane on THE WALKING DEAD, as a foul mouthed, kick butt and ask questions later type of soldier/mechanic.    The problem I had with FURY is that I did not find the characters likable enough to sit through this depressing 2 hour plus film. Granted, Lerman's charac

THE IMITATION GAME, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley is the story of a brilliant mathematician who is hired by the British Government to crack an Enigma Code. The Enigma Code was a jumbled code used by the Germans in World War II to communicate vital information in their efforts to win the World War.   Talking about the plot of the movie beyond this gets very complicated for me because it involves heading into spoiler territory, something I do my very best to avoid when writing reviews. Instead, I will write about what I liked and disliked about THE IMITATION GAME without going into any spoilers.   Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliant as Alan Turing, the real life mathematician who can be quite a handful to work with. At first, I thought Cumberbatch was playing another Sherlock Holmes type character (he plays Sherlock Holmes in the British TV Series Sherlock, for those who didn't know), a know-it-all with smart mouthed comments. But the further you get into the f

AMERICAN SNIPER, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper is based on the life of Chris Kyle and the book of the same name.   Much has been written and said about Chris Kyle, especially since the release of the film this past December. Please keep in mind as you read this, that this is my opinion of the film itself and not of the man, Chris Kyle. I have not served in the US military, nor do I claim to have any insight into the depiction of military life. I have, however, seen a tons of movies and can critique a film. So, please keep that in mind. Most people I have talked to have a strong opinion about Chris Kyle in one way or the other.   Clint Eastwood is in my opinion, a master film maker and has an established body of work to prove that. I'm talking about Eastwood the director, not the actor. AMERICAN SNIPER is a superb addition to that body of work. From the start, we are thrown into the tense action as Kyle as to make a life or death decision of whether to

After viewing BIRDMAN, the Oscar nominated film starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone, I am left speechless. This is a film unlike anything that I've seen before. It runs the gambit of emotions. At one point the movie is one of the worst films I've ever seen. Just when I'm about to give up, it gets interesting, then strange,then engrossing,weird,inspiring and shocking. Never have I seen a film that contains just about every thought that I've had about other movies I've seen in the past.   BIRDMAN is not a film for everyone. It is a film that cannot be described. It has to be seen to believe and then afterwards, I'm not quite sure what I've seen. IT's one of those films that people will love or hate with a passion. Out of 4 stars, I give BIRDMAN ****.

JOHN WICK is Keanu Reeves alleged return to form as far as action movies are concerned. Some are calling this his best movie since THE MATRIX(1999) and they may be right.   What do I think? It's basically a pornographic action movie. If you like that sort of thing, then this movie is for you. It's also considered a revenge movie. I don't believe in revenge. It's up to God to deal out the punishment. You could argue that God uses man to dish out revenge. That's not what this is particular blog piece is about. It's a movie review. We can discuss that somewhere else.   The question is do I think it's a good movie? I have mixed emotions with JOHN WICK. On one hand, it's a slick action movie with some good performances. On the other, like I mentioned earlier, it's a pornographic action movie. There's enough violence here for 10 movies, and at times, it's resembles a video game. With that said, what hinges on me giving it a thumbs up or down,

   If I grabbed ten people at random and asked them if they had heard of the movie AMERICAN SNIPER, I'm sure all ten people would say they have heard of the film. I f I asked the same ten people if they ever heard of the film BOYHOOD, I bet one out of ten would say they've heard of it.    Which brings me to my review of BOYHOOD, starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as divorced parents raising two children separately.     The thing that stands out about BOYHOOD is that it was filmed over the course of twelve years. Everyone in the film ages naturally, no CGI or visual effects used. This is experimental film making, ladies and gentlemen.   The film seemd a bit boring in places and it had an improv feel to the acting. Not a bad thing. It gives the film a more realistic feel.   But here's the thing that bowled me over and had a tremendous affect on me-the overall movie. When you have watched the entire three hour film, it is then that I felt like I had been on some t